Ginkgo biloba - also known as the maidenhair tree - is a species of tree native to China. Fossils very similar to the living species, belonging to the genus Ginkgo, extend back to the Middle Jurassic approximately 170 million years ago. The tree is widely cultivated, and was cultivated early in human history.
Extreme examples of the ginkgo's tenacity may be seen in Hiroshima, Japan, where six trees growing between 1–2 kilometres from the 1945 atom bomb explosion were among the few living things in the area to survive the blast.
Although almost all other plants (and animals) in the area were killed, the ginkgos, though charred, survived and were soon healthy again.
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